Getting to Know the Alilitan Ceremony of Catur Desa Adat Dalem Tamblingan, Buleleng

The Alilitan Ceremony has been designated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage (WBTb) of Indonesia for 2025. The Alilitan Ceremony is a hereditary tradition of the community in the Catur Desa Adat Dalem Tamblingan area.

This tradition is one of the local wisdoms in safeguarding water sources in the Lake Tamblingan area, Banjar District, Buleleng. The Alilitan Ceremony is related to efforts to purify water (ngastitiang toya) and cleanse the depths of the earth (sapta patala), centred on Lake Tamblingan and the Merta Jati Forest.

The Alilitan Ceremony is held every two years by four villages that are members of Catur Desa Adat Tamblingan. The four villages located around Lake Tamblingan include Gobleg, Munduk, Gesing, and Umejero villages.

According to the Regional Research and Innovation Agency (Brida) of Buleleng Regency, the roots of the Alilitan Ceremony tradition have been recorded in history for nearly a thousand years. The existence of communities around Lake Tamblingan is recorded in the Suradipa, Udayana, and Ugrasena inscriptions, written around 900–1100 AD.

It is said that the community, which originally lived around Lake Tamblingan, chose to move and spread out, eventually forming the Catur Desa in the 13th century. This migration is believed to have been intended to preserve the sanctity of Lake Tamblingan as a water source.

Eventually, this practice was repeated over time and became a deeply rooted hereditary tradition. In time, that tradition came to be called the Alilitan Ceremony.

The Alilitan Ceremony series begins on Tilem Kasa with the Karya Dalu procession at the Cangkub spring, located on the border of Gesing and Munduk villages. The procession continues with Bongkol Karya, held on Purnama Karo.

After that, the culmination of the entire series of ceremonies is concluded with Karya Pangrakih. This peak event is carried out directly at Lake Tamblingan and the Merta Jati Forest during Purnama Kapat.

The Alilitan Ceremony was designated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage (WBTb) of Indonesia by the Ministry of Culture in 2025. This designation makes the Alilitan Ceremony tradition of Catur Desa Adat Tamblingan one of 18 traditions from Buleleng that have been designated as WBTb.